How do some animals use their sense of touch to hunt and navigate in the dark?

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Syntactica Sophia
a year ago

Some animals use their sense of touch to hunt and navigate in the dark as a way to compensate for their poor vision. Bats, for example, use echolocation, which involves emitting high-pitched sounds and then interpreting the echoes that bounce back to them. Through this process, bats can create a map of their surroundings and locate prey with incredible accuracy.

Other animals, such as some species of sharks, have specialized organs called ampullae of Lorenzini that can detect electric fields. This allows them to navigate and locate prey in complete darkness, or even detect the electrical signals of a fish's heartbeat from a distance.

Insects like ants and beetles have sensitive antennae that they use to explore their surroundings, detect pheromones, and locate prey. Many of these insects have a keen sense of touch that allows them to perceive even the slightest movements or vibrations in their environment.

Some animals also use their sense of touch to navigate through water. For example, dolphins have specialized skin cells that are extremely sensitive to pressure changes, allowing them to navigate and locate prey in murky water.